Skepticism

EVENTS

Elon Musk really is an unpleasant jerk

He’s still stewing over his unused plan to rescue those kids stranded in a cave in Thailand, and he’s still accusing one of the guys who led the successful rescue of being a pedophile. Buzzfeed asked him for evidence of his accusation, and hoo boy, he really quadrupled down. His evidence that Unsworth is a pedophile? He’s a white guy who lives in Thailand, therefore…

Buzzfeed contacted the woman with whom he is in a long-term relationship. Just the simple fact of her existence seems to confound Musk’s claim.

BuzzFeed News also spoke with Woranan Ratrawiphukkun, a Thai woman who is Unsworth’s longtime girlfriend. She said she had been with Unsworth for more than seven years and has posted numerous photos about their relationship on social media dating back several years. Unsworth, she added, spends part of the year in Thailand and part of the time in the UK.

Ratrawiphukkun, who said she is 40, declined to comment on Musk’s allegations against Unsworth, and referred a reporter to his lawyers.

40? I guess the window of time for pedophilia can be stretched quite a bit. I suppose you could call me a hebephile, at least, since my wife is 6 months younger than I am.

@2: Used to be. I mean, this guy probably won’t get much more than $0.001 billion, but the suit may cost Musk quite a bit more than that. I’ll start feeling sorry for him when he’s down to his last million. Maybe.

Hey! I’ve been to Pattaya Beach and never once did I have sex with a child prostitute…Or any prostitute for that matter. Thank you very much Mr. Musk.

It was an absolutely beautiful island with a TON of tourists and some of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. I loved the blue water and the little islands that looked like they were floating in the sky.

I live in Texas and everyone knows that Texas is full of cowboys. Brilliant!

(I did, in fact, grow up on a cattle ranch and rode horses but was never a cowboy. Cowboys ride the range. I just shook a feed sack, blew the truck horn and waited for the herd to walk themselves into the pen. :) )

Amazing. Musk was maybe slightly digging himself out of the hole he’d gotten himself into, with the Tesla Model 3 finally hitting its production targets, walking back the whole “did he just commit securities fraud?” debacle with the Tesla-going-private situation, and the NYT interview.

@Alt-X
He is not exactly a tourist, he lives in Thailand with his girlfriend for significant portions of the year. And just because Musk said it does not mean it is based on fact; Musk also said he married a 12 year old child bride. I find it hard to believe his 40 year old girlfriend would be okay with that. As for him being able to dive but not being part of the rescue dive team, so what? Few divers are also cave divers, and even expert cave divers say the dive to reach the children was extreme in both difficulty and duration. Lastly, very few expert cave divers are rescue divers, and not many rescue divers are familiar with cave diving. I would be more surprised if he actually had been on the dive team.

I always wonder about people who make such outlandish accusations out of nowhere that maybe they’re projecting a little bit. Kind of like how a lot of religious leaders who’ve championed against homosexuality by equating it to pedophilia turn out to either themselves be pedophiles or at least have contributed to helping protect pedophiles within their ranks.

I hadn’t before considered that Musk maybe has some predilections that he’s either ashamed of or at least trying to hide until this particular incident. But, now I’m suspicious.

Unsworth may not want a fight, but I think he ought let some lawyer run with a pure pay-on-success contract.

Unsworth need not spend a cent, he could let a lawyer keep all the money if he pleased (though a healthy donation to a Thai scout group would seem in order).

I imagine a jury could easily support a very large settlement, and the case seems like it ought be a slam dunk – it seems very clear that Musk has tried to defame Unsworth – around the world – with entirely untruthful assertions about his character.

I would easily support a multi-billion dollar settlement if I sat on the jury (perhaps it would have to be divided a few million recompense and several billion in punitive damages to fit the rules) – people with out-sized reach and privilege from out-sized wealth should attract out-sized punishment for such abuses.

Unsworth may not want a fight, but I think he ought let some lawyer run with a pure pay-on-success contract.

Unsworth need not spend a cent – fentex@18

I don’t think you’ve thought this through. If Unsworth sues, he risks Musk using his effectively unlimited resources to trawl through his own and his family’s and friends’ lives, hire people to conduct surveillance on him and them, attempt to suborn them, use the contacts he will undoubtedly have in the Thai and British ruling elites to cause trouble for him and them, etc. etc. Even if he’s a pure as the driven snow, Unsworth would be exposing himself to years of vindictive harrassment from Musk. This case illustrates one of the effects of economic inequality: wealth is a form of power, and the very rich, such as Musk, can get away with behaviour which would likely be the downfall of the rest of us.

Did anyone notice how Musk succeded in switching the focus on Unsworth’sexual behaviour?
The main point in the news is currently: “Is Unsworth a pedo, or isn’t he?”, followed by “Is it acceptable for Musk to call him a pedo?”
Nobody wakes up and “hey, wait a moment. Who gives a fuck with Unsworth morality? He contributed in a useful way to the rescue, while Musk and his team just got in the middle with unrealistic solutions that only wasted time and resources”.
This is the point: what Unsworth and Musk did in that situation.

[…]
Elon Musk has escalated his baseless attacks against a British diver, claiming without evidence that the man who helped rescue children from a cave in Thailand was a “child rapist” in an email to a reporter.

[…]

Unsworth[‘s …] lawyer said in an email to the Guardian on Tuesday: “Elon Musk’s campaign of publishing vile and false accusations against Mr Unsworth is inexcusable. Musk hopes to be sued and he deserves to be sued. He will be.”

[…]

Musk confirmed to the Guardian on Tuesday that he had sent the email […]

This accusation is what it is. I have no evidence either way. However I do know child/teen sex “tourism”/exploitation is fairly commonplace among wealthy males. I think that is the elephant in the room.